installed_apps_manager #

A strictly focused, high-performance Flutter plugin for managing installed applications on Android devices.

Designed with open-source scalability in mind, it safely handles large application counts (1000+ apps) by utilizing Native Caching, Pagination, and Lazy Icon Loading.

Features #

• Fetch Installed Apps: Retrieve all user and system apps.
• Robust Pagination: Fetch applications in chunks to prevent TransactionTooLargeException and UI stutter on devices with hundreds of apps.
• Lazy Icon Loading: Load app icons dynamically on-demand using AppIconImageProvider.
• App Actions: Launch apps, open app settings, and uninstall applications directly from Flutter.
• Extract APKs: Extract the raw APK (or split .apks) of any installed app to the user's Downloads folder.
• Save Icons: Save the high-resolution icon of any app directly to the device's Pictures gallery.

Permissions #

To fetch the list of installed applications on Android 11 (API level 30) and above, you must declare the QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES permission in your android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.example.app">
    <!-- Required to query ALL installed applications -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES"/>

    <application>
        ...
    </application>
</manifest>

Note: If you are publishing to the Google Play Store, you will need to justify the use of this permission in your Play Console declarations.

Safe Alternative: Targeted Intent Fetching #

If you do not want to declare QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES and risk Play Store rejection, you can fetch specific apps by providing an intent action:

// Safely fetch only apps that appear in the device launcher
List<AppInfo> apps = await InstalledAppsManager.getAppsWithIntent('android.intent.action.MAIN');

Usage #

1. Fetching Apps (Paginated - Recommended) #

To avoid freezing the UI when fetching a large list of applications, use the paginated method:

import 'package:installed_apps_manager/installed_apps_manager.dart';

// Fetch the first 50 apps, searching for "whatsapp", sorted by base APK size
Page<AppInfo> page = await InstalledAppsManager.getInstalledAppsPaginated(
  limit: 50,
  offset: 0,
  includeSystemApps: false,
  searchQuery: 'whatsapp',
  sortBy: AppSortBy.size,
  sortOrder: SortOrder.descending,
);

List<AppInfo> apps = page.items;
bool isLast = page.isLastPage;

2. Rendering Lazy Icons #

To render the icon of an app, use the AppIconImageProvider. This fetches the icon from the native Android side only when the widget is rendered on the screen.

CircleAvatar(
  backgroundImage: AppIconImageProvider(app.packageName),
)

3. Application Actions #

All application actions throw strongly-typed exceptions (AppLaunchException, AppUninstallException, etc.) instead of returning weak booleans. This allows you to handle failures gracefully in your UI.

try {
  // Launch the app
  await InstalledAppsManager.openApp('com.whatsapp');

  // Open App Settings
  await InstalledAppsManager.openSettingsScreen('com.whatsapp');

  // Prompt Uninstall
  await InstalledAppsManager.uninstallApp('com.whatsapp');
} on InstalledAppsManagerException catch (e) {
  print('Action failed: ${e.message}');
}

4. Extracting APKs & Icons #

Extract the base APK or split APKs to the user's Downloads folder:

String? path = await InstalledAppsManager.extractApk('com.whatsapp', 'WhatsApp');
print('Saved to: $path');

Save the app's icon to the gallery:

String? path = await InstalledAppsManager.saveAppIcon('com.whatsapp', 'WhatsApp');
print('Saved to: $path');